How Skill Gems Work In Path Of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2’s
skill system can be somewhat confusing when starting out. Most ARPGs give players a clear set of skills they unlock as they play through the campaign, but in PoE2, these skills are itemized and can be used on all characters.

While this mechanic might seem strange at first, skill gems and their support variants give you untold flexibility in creating builds and trading skills with other characters. Today, we’ll be diving into how the skill gem system works in PoE2, how to add skills to your build, and how to modify them with support and meta gems.

Changes From Path Of Exile

A sorceress moving around with skeletons following her.

Gems are now socketed into your character. Sockets on items are now used for Runes, a new item type in Path of Exile 2.
- This makes it significantly easier to gear while leveling since sockets are no longer a pain point.
- You may have up to nine six-link skills at a time. Some Ascendancies grant more.
You cannot use multiple copies of the same support gem. For example, you can only use one copy of Multiple Projectiles across your entire build. Plan your builds accordingly.
Meta gems. Trigger gems (Cast on Critical Hit, Cast on Damage Taken, etc.) and most auras are now meta gems. These automatically activate under certain conditions, triggering all skills socketed into them.
Attribute requirements have been streamlined across the board.
Uncut gems sometimes drop from quest rewards and slain monsters. Interact with the uncut gem to create any skill or support gem you need.

What Are Skill Gems?

Unlike most ARPGs, skills in PoE2 aren’t learned but instead equipped. You will occasionally find skill gems while playing, physical items that can be socketed into your character. Inserting a skill gem into your character will grant access to that skill, provided you meet the skill’s attribute requirements and any weapon restrictions.

Any class can use any skill in Path of Exile 2, excluding skills unlocked through your class’s Ascendancy.

Skills in PoE2 are broken up into three categories:

Color	Attribute	Notable Skill Types Not A Comprehensive List
Red	Strength	Slow Melee Skills, Slams, Totems, Fire-Themed Buffs
Green	Dexterity	Ranged Skills, Fast Melee Skills, Ballistas, Grenades, Traps, Ice-Themed Buffs
Blue	Intelligence	Spells, Most Minions, Lightning-Themed Buffs

Color

Attribute

Notable Skill Types

Not A Comprehensive List

Red

Strength

Slow Melee Skills, Slams, Totems, Fire-Themed Buffs

Green

Dexterity

Ranged Skills, Fast Melee Skills, Ballistas, Grenades, Traps, Ice-Themed Buffs

Blue

Intelligence

Spells, Most Minions, Lightning-Themed Buffs

Red skill gems tend to focus on melee attacks, broken up into typical melee swings to heavy slam attacks. This gem color is also associated with totems, a type of minion that can taunt nearby enemies or attack foes with an apparition of your current weapon. If you’re looking for fire-themed auras and similar buffs, it’ll likely be a red gem.

Green skill gems lean towards ranged combat and hit-and-run playstyles. Melee skills in this category are usually fast but deal little damage. This is also the tech-focused part of Path of Exile’s skill distribution, allowing you to spawn Ballista turrets, create traps, and modify the ammo types on your ranged weapons. Ice buffs are also in this category.

Blue skill gems encompass nearly every spell type in PoE2, including meteor showers, chain lightning, ice blizzards, necromancy, and chaos-themed degen effects. If you want to play a spellcaster, chances are your character will be using quite a few blue gems. Non-spellcasters might also use blue skill gems for lightning-themed buffs, such as Herald of Thunder.

Equipping A Skill

You can access your skills tab from the menu button above your flasks and charms. You’ll see a grid of sockets you can socket your gems into. Skill gems go into the left-most column, and support gems are inserted in the remaining columns. For example, inserting the Essence Drain gem will reveal two smaller gem sockets next to the skill. This tells us we have two support sockets to play with, allowing us to modify the skill’s behavior or otherwise improve it.

You may have up to nine skills inserted into your character. You can bypass this restriction through certain weapons, Ascendancies (subclasses), and meta gems.

A player zoomed in standing near Asinia.

Path Of Exile 2: Asinia, The Praetor’s Consort Boss Guide

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How Support Gems Work

Support gems modify your skill gems with new behavior, ranging from damage buffs to entirely new mechanics. For example, if you placed the Multiple Projectiles support onto the Grenade skill, you’d throw three grenades in a fan whenever you cast the skill. Throw on [Cluster Bomb], and now each grenade will explode multiple times, substantially increasing the skill’s AoE damage.

These support gems are where most of your damage will be coming from early on, so it’s essential to install as many support gems as you can into your skills. A skill can have up to five support gems installed at a time, although you can bypass this restriction with certain items and Ascendancies.

Remember, skill gems add functionality to your build. Support gems modify your build.

Support Gem Limitations

As strong as support gems can be, there are some major restrictions you need to be aware of:

You cannot use the same support gem multiple times. For example, if Multiple Projectiles is currently supporting a skill, you can’t use Multiple Projectiles on any other skill.
- You can stack similar support gems on the same skill—for example, Multiple Projectiles and Wildspark. They just can’t be the same gem.
Supports must be linked to the skill gem. Skill gems have links tied to them, which determines how many support gems can affect the skill. If there is no link, the support gem won’t do anything.
- You can link support gem sockets together with Orbs of Fusing, a rare currency type.
Support gems increase the skill’s attribute requirements, usually by +5 in whatever the gem’s attribute bucket is in.
- For example, a green gem will increase the skill’s Dexterity requirement by +5.

Skill Gem Sockets

Every skill that drops in PoE2 will have support gem sockets. Sockets are what you install support gems into. For example, the first few skills you’ll get in Act One will have two support sockets, which means they can equip two support gems. If you want more sockets, you’ll need to find a better copy of that gem.

This is why you should be on the lookout for better skill gems as you level. The more sockets and links the skill has, the better. Level doesn’t matter as much since you can cut a higher-level gem.

Based on Early Access launch, it appears that Jeweler’s Orbs and Orbs of Fusing are not in PoE2. You’ll need to find a six-socket gem in the world to get the most out of your skill.

Path of Exile 2 Ancestral Totem Meta Gem

Meta gems are the inverse of support gems. Instead of buffing your skills with passive effects, a meta gem is effectively a massive support gem you socket skills into. Each meta gem has a condition tied to it, such as igniting targets or landing critical hits. Meeting the condition will accrue energy. Once a meta gem has enough energy, it’ll trigger every skill currently supported in the meta gem, starting from left to right.

Acquiring New Gems

In the earlier Acts, you’ll get most of your skill and support gems through quest rewards. Many quests in the first two acts will award uncut gems, which you can interact with in your inventory to carve into any skill you please.

Uncut gems also drop from slain monsters. Certain bosses are guaranteed to drop an uncut gem on your first kill.

Your skill and support gem options are labeled per class, giving you a rough idea of which skills work best with your archetype. Once again, there are no skill restrictions tied to class, so feel free to carve out skills used by other classes. If you’re a Witch but want to use a melee slam attack, you can do that. Just be aware of any attribute requirements that the skill needs.